Thursday, May 31, 2007

Lunchtime read: Short Stories by Dreiser

Another story that Dreiser managed to get published in Cosmopolitan again covers the subject of love and matrimony but this time the couple are married and that’s when the problems begin.

The Marriage* A woman who is of farming stock marries a musician who hangs around with a large number of arty friends, some of whom are women, and so she tries to get him away from that crowd to meet with older more refined society

* Dreiser describes the way she tries to manipulate her husband with crying, baby speak and bullying and she obviously thinks she has the upper hand in the marriage particularly after she introduces him to people she approves of

* The problem is that these people are intellectually superior to the wife and she starts to feel that compared to them she is dull and unworthy and finally one night opens up and the balance of power shifts to her husband having to console her

* The story ends with the musician musing on the relationship coming to the conclusion that he might not even love his wife but they are now trapped in a cycle of comfort and emotional weakness